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festivals · Tuesday 18 August 2026 · Various 
Bangor Blues & Jazz Week
At Multiple venues across Bangor · Bangor, Co. Down
At Multiple venues across Bangor · Bangor, Co. Down
For nine days every August, Bangor fills with blues and jazz - in its pubs, its walled garden, its Victorian courthouse, and out along the seafront. The Bangor Blues & Jazz Week is run by Open House Festival, a registered charity, and it brings together local musicians and visiting artists across more than fifty live events. Most of them cost nothing. If you like honest, unpretentious live music and want a reason to spend a weekend on the north Co. Down coast, this is a good one.
The centrepiece is the Blues & Jazz Trail - forty-plus free performances across ten pubs and venues in the town centre over the August Bank Holiday weekend. The trail runs from Central Avenue through King Street, up High Street and along the seafront, so you can drift between sets on foot. Participating pubs have included The Imperial, The King’s Quay, Rabbit Rooms, Wolseys and The Nines. Acts on the free trail range from jazz trios and blues bands to soul and groove outfits - past performers have included the Lee Hedley Blues Band, the Linley Hamilton Trio and the Belfast Groove Collective.
Alongside the trail, there are fifteen ticketed evening events at two more atmospheric venues: the Bangor Court House and the Bangor Castle Walled Garden. The walled garden in particular is a lovely setting on a summer evening. Artists like Mary Coughlan, Dana Masters, Grainne Duffy and the Zac Schulze Gang have appeared at these ticketed shows in recent years - the mix leans toward blues, jazz-soul and the kind of Irish-rooted blues that the likes of Coughlan do so well. Tickets for the evening shows sell out, so book ahead.
The festival is supported by Ards and North Down Borough Council and sponsored by Beamish, which tells you something about the atmosphere: this is community-rooted, beer-in-hand music, not a corporate spectacle.
Bangor is 15 miles east of Belfast along the A2, about a 25-minute drive in ordinary traffic. By train, Bangor railway station is on the Belfast - Bangor line with frequent services from Great Victoria Street and Lanyon Place; the journey takes around 30 minutes. The station is a short walk from the town centre and the seafront. If you drive, there is pay-and-display parking around the town centre and at the marina, and because the trail is walkable you can park once and cover most of the venues on foot.
Bangor has a lively marina, a long seafront promenade and a solid run of cafes and restaurants around the town centre - the weekend of the festival is a good time to make a full day of it. There is more to see in Bangor and across Co. Down.
Heading to Multiple venues across Bangor in Bangor? Down has plenty more to see. Read the Bangor area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.